The car accident death of Thunder assistant coach Monty Williams‘ wife, Ingrid Williams, was one of the most heartbreaking NBA stories in recent memory. Williams, their 5 children, and players from all around the league continue to mourn the loss of Mrs. Williams, who was a beloved and supportive member of the NBA community. Pelicans star Anthony Davis, who was coached by Monty for the first 2 years of his career, has said that Ingrid was like a mother to him. Simultaneously, it’s been awe-inspiring to watch how Monty Williams has dealt with his incredible loss. He’s maintained the idea that quitting isn’t an option, and displayed an unbelievable show of strength at his wife’s memorial during his eulogy remarks, despite the tough road that lays ahead of him.
Williams was absent from the Thunder’s playoff race this season as he tended to his family, but he’s returned to action on the West coast this summer as he helps his beloved Team USA prepare for next month’s Olympics in Rio. He also chose to speak publicly about what’s been a traumatic, trying, emotional and revealing past few months with Hannah Storm, in an interview that you can watch above.
In said interview, Williams again showed strength, but revealed a particularly heartbreaking tidbit about his grieving process. “I still text her. Yeah, I still text her. It’s not like I know she’s going to answer—I know she’s not going to answer—but it’s just part of what I do.” He continued by saying, “I’ll go outside at night and I’ll just look up in the sky and start talking to her. When you’ve been with somebody for 26 years and married for 20, you would just have to be around us to know what we were like. So I find myself doing everything that I can that I knew she would do, especially with the kids. Because she was the one who I could bounce my life off of, and she wasn’t afraid to tell me the truth. The reality is we live in a world that’s filled with stuff, but quitting is not an option. It’s just life. You have to be able to get up, face your flaws, and just, whatever it is, a step, an inch, you just got to keep moving forward.”
Godspeed, Monty.
